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In the spring of the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign, the situation north of the Yellow River was turbulent. Since Li Zicheng sent forward troops across the river to capture Pingyang in Shanxi Province at the beginning of the first month, Hejin, Jishan, Yinghe and other prefectures and counties also fell one after another. Wherever Dashun's army went, various Most of the defenders in prefectures and counties were watching the wind and descending.
When formulating the strategy, Gu Junen asked Li Zicheng to occupy Shaanxi, manage Guanzhong, and then use Guanzhong as the foundation to plunder three sides to provide troops. A very important point in this is "operating Guanzhong".
But after hearing that the forward force was overwhelming and the Shanxi Ming army was vulnerable, Li Zicheng decided to omit the words "managing Guanzhong".
He ordered General Tian Jianxiu, his wife Gao Guiying and most of the top ministers in the six governments to stay in Chang'an. He led an army of 300,000 people and began the Eastern Expedition on the eighth day of the first lunar month.
Accompanying the expedition were not only the main generals of the Dashun Army, but also important officials from various ministries of the Dashun New Dynasty, such as Prime Minister Niu Jinxing, military advisors Song Xiance and Gu Junen, Yu Dayou, Song Qijiao, Gong Yan, Zhang Linran, Li Zhensheng, Yang Yulin and other six governments. officials.
The purpose of taking these civil servants on an expedition was obvious, that is, wherever they conquered, they would take over and govern that place, and even accept the right to govern the entire country of the Ming Dynasty.
General Liu Fangliang led a partial division eastward along the north bank of the Yellow River, first occupying the three prefectures in northern Henan, and then advancing from south to north towards Baoding.
Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin were the main forces together. The hundreds of thousands of troops were known as a million-strong army. With their flags covering the sun and their swords like a forest, they defeated Fenzhou, an important town in southwest Shanxi Province, with the overwhelming power of Mount Tai. Hequ, Jingle and other cities followed one after another.
Li Zicheng not only personally boosted morale and called on the officers and soldiers of the Dashun Army to carry forward the style of continuous fighting, but also vigorously carried out recruitment and surrender work. Before the army arrived, they first sent a message to persuade them to surrender, declaring that wherever the benevolent teacher went, he would not rape women, kill innocent people, or plunder property. Qiu has no fault. But when the army approaches the city, no resistance is allowed. The first shot requires the seal officials to come out to greet them, the second shot requires the gentry to surrender, and the third shot requires the people to kneel down to receive them. If the city gates are closed and the city refuses to defend, then on the day the city is breached, massacre will be carried out. Poke, leaving no grass behind.
This trick works very well. The prefectures and counties along the way did not dare to resist and opened their city gates. People also prepared incense burners in front of their homes and knelt down to welcome Li Zicheng. At the same time, every house had to post the word "obedient to the people" on the door;
If you are not "shun", I will give you three swords first. Take the word "shun" apart and look at it. On the right is a "page", and the words from "page" are related to the head and face. Original meaning: human head.
There are three knives on a person's head, this is "shun". This is probably how Li Zicheng understood the word "shun".
After taking the Fenzhou area, Li Zicheng then marched north to Jinzhong and approached Taiyuan City in mid-February. Li Guo, who was originally mopping up the remnants of the Ming army in northern Shaanxi, also mobilized troops according to Li Zicheng's deployment. Crossing the river from Jiazhou, they defeated the Ming army and soldiers guarding the Yellow River and cut off Taiyuan's reinforcements.
The wife controls Jingxing in the east and Qinshui in the south. Bordering Pingyang and Yansui to the northwest, it is the capital of Shanxi Province. It is also a strategic town heavily garrisoned by the Ming Dynasty.
But at this moment, there were not many defenders in Taiyuan City, and the morale of the troops was low. In order to stabilize the morale of the troops, the governors Cai Maode and Fu Shan concocted a post, trumpeting the rape and plunder of the Dashun army. It’s Bi Mawen again” rumors to appease the military and the people.
There is a lot of mystery in this saying. A horse inside the door means "chuang", which means there is no way out if you follow Li Chuang. And this year happens to be the Year of the Monkey again, and Bi Mawen will eventually be crushed under the Five Fingers Mountain.
Not to mention, Fu Shan's trick was quite effective, and the people still believed it, so the Taiyuan army and people, under the leadership of the governor Cai Maode and Fu Shan, started fighting with Li Zicheng.
Fu Shan was a native of Yangqu near Taiyuan. He was a world-famous scholar who knew everything from philosophy, medicine, Confucianism, Buddhism, poetry, calligraphy, painting, epigraphy, martial arts, textual research, etc. Very respected.
Fu Shan knew that spitting alone could not overwhelm the Dashun army. In order to protect his hometown from being occupied by the Dashun army, he rushed 500 miles day and night to Baoding to ask for help from Li Jiantai, who was personally recruiting the emperor.
But who is Li Jiantai? If he had the courage, he would not hesitate in Baoding. Before Fu Shan came, he had already declared to Chongzhen: The thieves are powerful and invincible. I would like to go south with the help of the Crown Prince.
Having said this, Li Jiantai still has the guts to lead his army to reinforce Taiyuan
Fu Shan repeatedly begged, but Li Jiantai ignored him. Fu Shan was so angry that he cried bitterly and left in anger. What's even weirder is that Chongzhen didn't know whose slander he had listened to at this time, and actually ordered the dismissal of Cai Maode, the governor of Taiyuan. Let Guo Jingchang take over.
The new governor Guo Jingchang came to Guguan and heard that Dashun's army was invincible. He was so frightened that he stopped at Guguan and did not dare to go any further. Yu Yinggui, the governor of the three sides, also stood still and observed the situation.
Although Cai Maode in Taiyuan City was dismissed, he continued to actively plan the defense of the city with the chief envoy Zhao Jianji and others. Li Zicheng sent people to surrender with signs. Cai Maode smashed the surrender signs and captured and beheaded the messengers to show his determination to defend Taiyuan. .
Li Zicheng was furious when he learned that the envoy had been beheaded, and personally commanded the army to attack the city. Although the Taiyuan defenders were small, under the inspiration of Cai Maode, the soldiers fought with their lives and resisted to the death. The battle was very fierce. The brave generals Zhu Sunxun, Niu Yong and others once The attack of Dashun Army was repelled several times.
Houniu Yong was killed by a bombardment, and his morale was frustrated. At this critical moment, Cai Maode asked Jin King Zhu Qiugui to provide food and salary to boost morale, but Zhu Qiugui, a son of a bitch, only provided 3,000 taels of silver, which made the officers and soldiers defending the city indignant.
On this day, there was a strong wind, which uprooted trees and uncovered tiles. After nightfall, the wind became stronger and stronger, and the howling continued. Li Zicheng took advantage of the momentum to launch a fierce attack and captured Nanguan in one fell swoop.
Zhang Xiong, the guard of the Great South Gate, surrendered and set fire to the city tower. Dozens of cages of gunpowder were stored in a battlement on the south city. When the gunpowder was detonated, the sound shook the whole city, and the Taiyuan Wei Qian who was guarding the city were Chen Jiaqi and his younger brother Chen Jiagui were both killed.
The defenders of the four cities saw the fire in the gate tower in the south and knew that the city had been lost, so they dispersed.
At dawn, the Dashun Army entered Taiyuan City from the south gate. The deputy commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army, Sheng Sheng, held a spear and started a street battle with the Dashun Army to cover Cai Maode's failed attempt to break out. The two retreated to the Sanli Temple. Cai Maude was exhausted and was captured and hanged on a beam. Death, when the time comes, he will be hanged.
Jin Wang Zhu Qiugui escaped from the city and surrendered to Li Zicheng after being recovered.
Another descendant of Lao Zhu's family became a glorious general of Dashun Army.
When Li Zicheng launched a large-scale attack on Shanxi, Emperor Chongzhen issued the sixth edict after he ascended the throne: I will guard Hongxu for seven years. I deeply remember the power of God's surrender and the great trust entrusted by my ancestors. I will be cautious at night. , Don’t dare to be idle. However, the disasters are frequent, the atmosphere is getting hotter day by day, and the support of the past generations has been forgotten, and the country has been brutal for twenty years. Forgiveness will lead to arrogance, but those who care will often rebel, and there are even those who are confused by it and forget the hatred of the enemy...
Chongzhen's edict on sin is very long (I will not quote the full text) and very sincere. It mainly explains to the officials and people all over the world why he has had to pay more taxes in recent years, and asks the people to understand him;
At the same time, we expressed serious concern about the rebellious behavior of Li Zicheng and others. and lodged stern representations. He promised to kill only the two chief culprits, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and called on the rebel soldiers to abandon the dark side and surrender to the bright side. Anyone who could capture Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong would still be rewarded with a marquis.
In response, Li Zicheng also issued the "Edict of the First Year of Yongchang" in Taiyuan: God observes and observes, but reality only seeks misfortune. When the people return home, they only cut red Su. Fate is fleeting, but love is especially visible. Guangdong reflects on the past. Love knows the reasons for gains and losses; it knows the past and the present, and it knows how to deal with the unexpected. In the Ming Dynasty, I have been living in peace for a long time, and my discipline has been relaxed. You are not very dark. Isolation and blindness are always common; ministers who act privately are less loyal than party but public loyalty...
Li Zicheng's edict was also quite long. It was in direct opposition to Chongzhen's edict of sinners and issued an ultimatum to the Ming court. Its content mainly denounces the darkness and corruption of the Ming Dynasty. It affirms the justice and rationality of Dashun Dynasty replacing Ming Dynasty. At the same time, he called on friends all over the world to obey the orders of the new dynasty and work together to overthrow the dark Ming Dynasty.
It is worth mentioning that. Li Zicheng mentioned in this edict that "the emperor is not very secretive, and the ministers do their best to pursue their own interests." This means that the emperor Chongzhen was not very stupid, but the responsibility was passed on to the entire bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty.
Compared with Chongzhen's severe rebuke, Li Zicheng's edict seemed more sincere and more contagious.
In addition to accusing Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong of being white-eyed wolves, Chongzhen emphatically explained his own difficulties, but up to this point he was still unwilling to announce the cancellation of various apportionments. According to his logic, all the levies were for the sake of the people.
Such a crime has been punished by just talking about one's own sins without taking any concrete actions to let the people see his sincerity. How can we win the trust and sympathy of the people
Li Zicheng did not accuse Chongzhen. Instead, he said "The king is not very dark" and pointed the finger at the entire corrupt bureaucracy. This was a very clever move. It is obvious that Li Zicheng had carefully considered the idea of "the king is not very dark". .
Because Chongzhen has indeed been conscientious, diligent and frugal since he ascended the throne. Directly accusing Chongzhen will make people in the world feel that his words have no basis.
And this also indirectly shows his grievances. The emperor is still good. I don't want to rebel against such an emperor. However, all the officials in the world are bad. If the government forces the people to rebel, the people have no choice but to rebel.
And pointing the finger at the Ming Dynasty's bureaucrats has another benefit. The common people in the world often have very simple and direct ideas. They think whoever imposes taxes on them or raises taxes on them is a bad person.
Of course it will not be the emperor who directly collects taxes from the people, but officials from various places. Li Zicheng will point the finger at these people, which will make the people of the world feel that Li Zicheng is very practical and has the point. This will of course win the trust of the people. .
Not only did Chongzhen suffer successive military defeats, it can be said that even this war of words was completely defeated.
This war of words caused the people all over the world to gravitate towards Dashun. More and more people thought that he was an emperor like Li Shimin, and then they all fell in love with Dashun.
The effect was so good that Li Zicheng went northward without stopping and defeated Xinzhou and Daizhou. Only Ningwu general Zhou Yuji rose up to resist, but he also died in the battle.
At the same time, Li Zicheng first sent troops into the old pass to capture the north of Daming and Zhending.
He personally led the army to invade eastward along the border line and captured Datong. Governor Wei Jingyuan and commander-in-chief Zhu Sanle died. Almost all of Dai Wang and his clan died.
Taking advantage of his military victory, Dashun invaded Xuanfu. The general Jiang Yu surrendered, and the governor Zhu Zhifeng died. The bandits then invaded Yanghe and approached Juyongguan from Liugou.
Juyong Pass is the gateway to the west of the capital. Once this pass is lost, the capital will be exposed to Li Zicheng's army...
While Qin Mu in Huguang was paying attention to the situation in the capital, he was also worried about the sudden plague.
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.(To be continued...)
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